Chrissie Westgate

“I use my heart, my mind and my eyes to take pictures because photography is not just about seeing; it is also about feeling – the camera is almost unessential.” Chrissie Westgate

Chrissie is an international award-winning photographer with many years of experience. She specialises in street and informal portraiture but also enjoys all aspects of this art form.

Chrissie is a regular visitor to India and her stunning portraits have become very collectable and held in many private collections around the world.

Chrissie says “A photographic image can expose so many emotions and almost always transcends nations. Images are such a capable and powerful way of exposing situations of conflict and misery throughout the world and offer a compelling means of bringing about change.

The essence of being a people photographer is gratitude. I am constantly grateful for the opportunity to see and spend time with people and to make images that allow me to share what I have seen with others.

When I am working in a country such as India I am not just a photographer, I am also a witness. I try to have a balanced view of people and to connect with them as human beings, rather than strangers worthy of my compassion. I look for what we have in common, not for that which makes us distant. I also constantly hope that I just might take a picture that will make a difference.

I can immerse myself in all genres of photography and see it as a privilege to be asked to photograph a wedding or take family photographs, knowing they will be treasured and stay with those families forever.

In addition, landscape photography, particularly around my home on Mersea Island can be enthralling. I find it difficult to describe that great 'inside thing' I get from creating an instant image that reflects how I felt at the moment I chose to press the shutter. However, if I had to find words, 'Harmony and 'Delight' would spring to mind. Harmony - for at the moment of capture I am utterly captivated and absorbed in my subject whatever it might be. Delight! So many things delight me but encapsulating a precious moment in time such as the light dancing on the sea or the sun setting such a wonderful thing to be able to do.

I get a great feeling of satisfaction when people look into my images rather than just at them.”

Chrissie has had her work on display at: The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Mall Gallery, The Menier Gallery, The Royal Albert Hall, The Greenwich Museum, Liverpool Street Station, Firstsite Gallery and many other local galleries.

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